Process for distilling wood.



PATENTED AUG. 18, 1908.

T. B. GAUTIER. PROCESS FOR DISTILLING WOOD.

APPLIUATION FILED AUG. 23, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

1' NVEN T0 flaw/f Al/orney No. 896,292. PATENTED AUG. 18, 1908. T. B.GAUTIER.

moms FOR DISTILLING WOOD.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 23, 1906. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

T0 VACUUM 'FVMP WITNESSES: [NVENTOR Alfarney UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

THOMAS B. GAUTIER, OF ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOCLARENCE O. BURGER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS FOR DISTILLING- WOOD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 18, 1908.

Application filed August 23, 1906. Serial No. 331,763.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS B. GAUTIER, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and resident of Annapolis, in the county of Anne Arundel andState of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inProcesses for Distilling Wood, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in thedistillation of wood, and the present invention has for its objectsamong others the provision of an improved process whereby a betterproduct is obtained at a less cost, and a greater amount procured from agiven quantity of wood.

I subject the wood to the action of uniform heat in a retort withinwhich I maintain a vacuum in any suitable manner, and thus avoid alldanger of burning the rosin and insuring a better product, in that therosin, oil and turpentine comes off white. I use the wood in its naturalstate, without steaming or soaking in a liquid, and when my process iscompleted the wood is preserved in its natural shape and form, ispractically kiln dried, and the pores are closed by the tar and a sortof lacquer so that its life is materially lengthened. Railroad ties thustreated will be found more serviceable and durable than those from whichthe oils etc. have not been extracted.

I employ a furnace, of any suitable description suited to the purpose,and from this furnace leads a pipe or conduit to the retort, which maybe located at any desired distance, preferably at such a distance as notto be subjected to the direct heat or the flames from the furnace, sothat the heat within the retort may be controlled and made uniform, itbeing designed to never have the heat greater than 380 Fahrenheit in thecenter of the retort, under ordinary conditions. With this flue orconduit is connected a stack provided with a damper by which the heat tothe retort may be controlled. Within this conduit I arrange a coilhaving suitable connection with a source of cold water supply and as thewater in this coil gets sufficiently heated steam is created, which,acting in conjunction with a nozzle leading from a tank of cold water,acts in the manner of an injector and serves to throw spray back intothe conduit in opposition to the movement of the hot air and cooling thefumes of the combustion, this being an automatic means of accomplishingthis purpose and insuring that the gases shall not heat the retort totoo great a degree, to burn the fumes therein.

The retort is in communication with suitable means for maintaining avacuum therein, such as a vacuum pump or other known and convenientmeans, which serves also to draw off the oil,fumes and turpentine, whichare subsequently treated in the usual manner, the rosin being collectedin the bottom of the retort where it is protected against burning bycement which is inclined upon its upper surface so as to conduct therosin to the draw-0E pipe with a trap whereby it may be drawn off in theusual way.

The heat is made uniform around the retort, the gases being directed allaround the same, and passing ofi to a stack, suitable dampers beingprovided whereby the heat may be shut off entirely when desired. Withthe furnace is connected a flue leading to the atmosphere and providedwith a damper whereby the air may be admitted to the furnace, whichlatter thus constitutes a miX- ing chamber.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter. appearand the novel features thereof will be specifically defined by theappended claims.

The invention is clearly illustrated, in its preferred form, in theaccompanying drawings, which, with the numerals of reference markedthereon, form a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is adiagrammatic view, with the retort in vertical section, illustrating oneform of apparatus for carrying out my process. Fig. 2 is avertical crosssection on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectionaldetail on the axial line of the retort, at right angles to the line ofsection indicated by the line 33 in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detailof the injector device. Fig. 5 is a top plan of the device shown in Fig.4.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts throughout the severalviews.

Referring now to the details of the drawings 1 designates a furnace ofany'suitable character and shape, adapted to the purpose.

2 is a flue or conduit leading from the outer atmosphere to the interiorof the combustion chamber of the furnace for introducing cold air intothe combustion chamber, the said flue or conduit being provided with adamper 3 of any suitable character whereby the supply of cold air may beregulated or completely shut off as may be required.

4 is a retort of any suitable kind, properly supported, and within.which the wood to be treated is designed to be placed, in this instancebeing shown as provided with rails 5 upon which trucks 6 may be run. Thewood is loaded upon the trucks and run into the retort and then theentrance to the latter is closed by the door 7 secured in place by theclamp 8 the ends of which engage means 9 on the brick-work of theretort, the clamp and door being held by the screw 10. This, however, isbut one of the many means that may be em loyed for this purpose, theonly requisite eing that the end shall be closed air tight.

11 is a conduit leading from the combustion chamber of the furnace tothe retortsurrounding jacket. This jacket 12 extends over the top of theretort and into this top portion the said conduit 11 communicates; bythis means all danger of burning the product in the bottom of the retortis avoided. From the top the jacket extends down upon opposite sides asseen at 13 in Fig. 2, for about one half the height of the retort, whereit is separated from the lower jacket 14 by the brick-work 15, it beingunderstood that at the rear end of the retort the top and bottom fiuesare extended so as to practically envelop said end,'the onlyinterruption being that caused by the brick-work which separates thesaid top andbottom flues or jackets. The top jacket communicates at theend with the lower jacket by the flues 16 as seen in Fig. 3; by thismeans it will be seen that the retort is enveloped on all sides by thejacket which receives the products of combustion from the furnace sothat it is kept uniformly heated. From the lower jacket the products ofcombustion pass into a stack 16 through the passage 17 as seen best inFig. 2.

In the bottom of the retort beneath the tracks I provide the cementbottom 18 which is inclined upon its upper face so as to cause the rosincollected in the bottom of the retort to flow into the outlet pipe 19provided with a trap 20 and a suitable valve or shut-off 21, all asclearly shown in Fig. 1. This cement work serves to keep the rosin frombeing burned by the heat in the lower conduit.

22 are thermometers in the retort and extended through stufiing boxes asshown, so that the temperature within the retort may be readilyascertained.

The stack 23 connected with and leading from the conduit 11 is providedwith a suitable damper 23 as indicated in Fig. 1.

24 is a vacuum pump of any well known or approved form of construction,a description of which it is not necessary to give here. A

pipe 25 connects the same with a coupling 26 from which lead a pluralityof pipes communicating with the interior of the retort whereby the fumesfrom the wood, such as wood alcohol, turpentine and oil, are drawn outas fast as they are extracted from the wood, and from the vacuum pumpthey are forced through suitable piping 27 into a condenser 28 of knownconstruction, from whence they are later removed and treated in theusual manner. This vacuum pump not only draws off the distillate fumes,but serves to at all times maintain a vacuum within the retort. Thisincreases the speed and capacity of the process. It also obviates alldanger of burning of the products, insuring a much larger yield from agiven amount of wood, as high as forty-five gallons to the cord. It alsoincreases the quality and value of the product by reason of its whitecolor, obtained by being extracted in a vacuum, besides not destroyingthe fiber of the wood and leaving it in condition for any use to whichit might have been put before being subjected to my treatment. The woodafter treatment is practically kiln dried and the pores hermeticallysealed.

Within the conduit 11 at a suitable distance from the retort I place acoil 34 and this coil 34 is connected by pipe 35 with a supply tank 36(see Fig. 5) by which water may be supplied to the coil. This coil hasone end extended in the form of a pipe 37 which leads toward the furnaceas seen best in Fig. 4, while another tank 38, having suitable supplypipe 39 and ball cock valve 40, has a pipe 41 leading therefrom and itsfree end terminating adjacent to the end of the pipe 37 as seen best inthe enlarged view, Fig. 4, constitutes an injector by means of which assteam is generated in the coil 34, the steam passing out over the end ofthe pipe 41 makes a spray of water which automatically cools the fumesof combustion passing through the conduit 1]. and at the same time thecold fumes serves to cool the coil 34 and the generation of steam isstopped for the time being until it again warms up when the sameoperation is repeated, the automatic cooling of the combustion fumesbeing assured.

42 is a damper in the conduit 11 adjacent the coil 34 by which thepassage of the products of combustion to the retort may be entirely shutoff when desired.

43 is a thermometer disposed within the coil as seen best in Fig. 4 bywhich the temperature of the water therein may be readily ascertained.

The operation will be readily understood from the foregoing descriptionwhen taken in connection with the annexed drawings, and, briefly stated,is as follows:The wood having been placed in the retort and the doorsecurely fastened so as to make it perfectly tight, and the fire in thefurnace having been started, the damper 3 in the conduit 2 is uaqzuzclosed, as are also the damper 23 in the stack 23 and the damper 42opened. The products of combustion from the furnace pass through theconduit 11 into the top conduit over the retort and down and around thesame and out the stack till the retort is heated to the desiredtemperature. I When the fumes commence to pass from the wood the vacuumpump is started and the vacuum is disclosed, as the same will form thesubjectmatter of a separate application.

What is claimed as new is The process of obtaining turpentine and rosinfrom turpentine-bearing -woods, which consists in exposing the Wood inits natural state, placed in a retort under an exhaust, to a temperature(never exceeding 380 Fah.) only sufiicient to disengage the turpentineand oils resembling it and the rosin, injecting a cooling medium intoand in opposition to the movement of the heating medium to preventexcess of temperature in the retort, conducting the turpentine away fromthe retort, and then discharging the retort.

Signed by me at Washington District of Columbia this 22d day of Aug.1906.

THOMAS B. GAUTIER.

Witnesses:

ROBERT A. BOSWELL, E. H. BOND.

